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Written question asked by Lord Hammond of Runnymede (Conservative) on Monday, 13 February 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 15 February 2006. It was answered by Liam Byrne (Labour) on Monday, 27 February 2006 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Pension Liabilities

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will estimate the net present value of accrued pension liabilities in respect of (a) present and (b) former employees of her Department and its predecessors.
Answer

The Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme is an unfunded multi-employer defined benefit scheme and individual departments' pension liabilities are not available. The Cabinet Office: civil superannuation resource accounts for 2004–05 showed that the total pension liability at 31 March 2005 was £84.1 billion. The value of pension liabilities was assessed as follows:"liabilities for current members still contributing to the scheme—£37 billion;""deferred pensions and contingent pensions for dependants in respect of members no longer contributing—£12.7 billion and""current pensions for members and contingent pensions for dependants—£34.4 billion."As a result of a change in the discount rate used for calculating pension liabilities with effect from 1 April 2005, the total pension liability at 1 April 2005 increased by £10.6 billion to £94.7 billion.Employer contributions for the Principal Civil Service Pension Scheme, to the nearest thousand, are as follows:

£
2002–03 20,022,000
2003–04 21,096,000
2004–05 14,985,000

Projected costs for 2005–06 are £13,500,000.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
443 c480W;443 c480W; 52112
Session
2005-06
Subjects
Liability Employers' contributions Pensions Department of Health
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk